Silo seal



F. GNTHER Aug. 23, 1932.

SIL-o SEAL Filed Feb. 15. 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 NVENTQR @ed (1yr/mikel ATTORNEY Aug. 23, 1932.

F. GNTHER sILo SEAL Filed Feb. l5;

1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ed GnMer-f WITNESSES @Af/CUPO,

,Mrz/iff ATTORN EY Patented Aug. 23, 1932 FRED GNTHER, or PERU, ILLiNoIs sito sEAI'.

Application med February 15, 1929. semi No. 340,175.

This invention relates to silo seals, an ob-l ject of the invention being to provide a seal which can be conveniently assembled within L' a silo and which will seal and exert pressure l on the ensilage.

A further object is to provide a seal which is in the nature of an improvement upon the seal disclosed in Patent No. 1,663,478,

'10 granted to me March 20, 1928, in that the 1:5A whereby pressure may major portion of the seal comprises a plurality of cooperating members cut in sucha manner as to facilitate storing, handling, and the like, and in which novel means is provided be uniformly exerted upon the entire area of the seal and at the same time dispensing with they necessity for specially anchoring certain portions of the pressure exerting structure. y

A further object is to provide a seal which can be manufactured and installed for a reasonably low price and which will most eiiiciently perform the functions for. which it 10 to designate a silo wall and 11 the ensilage is intended.

A further object is to provide a seal which can be adjusted and which will accommodate itself to imperfections or differences in shapes of silos and which is comparatively simple a sliding movement of a sealing cap composed to assemble within a silo.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, which will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1is a view in longitudinal section through a silo, showing my improved seal in operative position therein, the view being taken in section on the line 1--1 of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a sectional plan view of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view in longitudinal section through a presser foot;

Figure 4 is a view in transverse section on the linee-L1 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a plan view showing an assemblage of boards with a slat secured thereto,

which is a convenient manner of transport-y ing these parts andv maintaining them in convenient assemblage until used;

Figure 6 is a sectional plan view with the parts broken away, illustrating the manner of assembling portions of the seal;

. Figure7 is a broken view in side elevation illustrating a modified form of anchoring de- Y vice for my improved ensilage seal;

Figure 8' is a sectional elevation ofthe device shown in Figure 7, taken at right angles thereto;

Figure 9 illustrates an anchoring device of the general type showin in Figures 7 and 8 mountedin the silo, thevview being taken on the line 9 9 of Figure 10;

, Figure 10 is a fragmentary plan View showing the position ofthe anchoring devices;

Figure 11 is a. view in side elevation of one of the modified forms of slats shown in Fig` ure 10.

In the drawings I have lused the numeral stored therein. A relatively heavy anchoring meinber12 buried in the ensilage is connected toa rod 13 rising centrally and verti-l cally through the ensilage and guiding the of a plurality of sections 13.

In addition to providing for vertical movement .of .the cap, the rod 13 preferably carries. a collar 14 bearing against the central sections 13 which has a central opening through which the rod passes. Thus the weight of the anchor is applied directly .to the cap at the center and indirectly through mechanism which l shall. laterdescribe. Y

Preferably thev under face of the -cap defined by the co-operating and mating sections 18 is lined lwith tar paper. This tar paper lining may comprise a series of overlapping tar paper sheets 15, seen in Figure 6, which prevent the ting edges of the cap sections 13. Y

The space between the cap and the silo wall is sealed by a ring member 16, which may be either continuous or formed with a plurality of overlapping sections. The ring 16 of tar paper or similar material is inwardpassage of air between the abutico ly transversely slotted as at 17 from one edge so that when the paper is bent along a longitudinal line there will be provided a depending flange 18 disposed between the ensilage and the silo wall, and an inwardly presented horizontal flange 19 under the edge of the cap formed by the tongues defined by the slots 17. As the paper is longitudinally curved in accordance with the curvature of the silo walls, these tongues will overlap, as indicated in Figure 6, and form an effective seal.

The sections 13 when together form a single piece of polygonal shape. These sections are capable of movement relatively. to each other so as to allow for and compensate for sli htly different shaped silos.

i etween the sealing cap made up of the sections 13 and the inner face of the silo, I locate a plurality of series of boards 20. Each series of boards is of dierent lengths and has inclined edges whereby the boards 20 of one series abut againstthe boards 20 of adjacent series, and slats 21 are positioned over the adjacent edges of the series of boards 2O so that when the sheets of paper 15 are covered by the boards 2O with the slats 21 thereon, the slats will be radially disposed and are suliciently long to project over the sealing cap made up of the sections 13.

On each of the slats adjacent its outer end I locate a presser foot 23 having a sufficient lateral bearing surface to rest solidly on the slat and prevent any possibility of rocking movement. 'These presser feet 23 may be strengthened by longitudinal webs 24 and they are provided with longitudinal bores 25 and with lugs or nipples 26 above the bores 25 and at an angle thereto.V

Stay rods 27 are projected through the openings or bores 25 of the feet 23 and have screw threaded outer ends receiving nuts 28 thereon screwed against the ends of the feet. The inner ends of the rods 27 are formed with hooks 29 which engage a ring 30 disposed around or concentric with the rod 13, and blocks 31 are located on the slats 21 and support the inner ends of the stay rods 27.

Tubular struts 32 engage over the lugs or nipples 26 of the feet 23 and at their inner ends engage under an annular iiange 33 on a ring 34. This ring 34 is mounted on and is freely movable on afscrew threaded rod 35 having a hook 36 at its lower end connected by a chain or other flexible connecting device 37 with a hook 38 on the upper end of the rod 13.

A washer 39 is disposed on the rod 35 above the ring 34 and is adjustably disposed on the rod through the medium of a nut 40 screwed on the rod. A coiled spring 41 is located around the rod 35 between the washer 39 and the ring 34 so that this spring exerts a constant downward pressure on the ring 34 and the struts 32 so as to exert a downward pressure on the seal.

The arrangement of the struts 32 and stay rods 27 is such that the pressure exerted by the spring 41 is uniform throughout the seal. When first placed in the silo the ensilage will be slight-ly compressed through the medium of the spring pressed seal as above explained, and when the spring has fully expanded a suflicient pressure will be maintained on the seal to render the same air and moisture tight.

vWhen transporting or storing the parts of the seal a convenient manner of assemblage is illustrated in Figure 5 in which one of t-he slats 21 is tacked or otherwise secured to a series of boards 2O so that these parts are in convenient position for use when the slat is removed and properly spaced over the edges of adjoining boards.

In Figures 7 to 11, inclusive, I illustrate a modification of my invention including an improved form of anchor, and improved mounting therefor. I may use any number of anchors, indicated generally by the reference character 50, having pivoted arms 51 thereon which normally hug the upright bar of the anchor when forced into the material in the silo and then fall to open position so as to resist upward movement of the anchor. rThese arms 51 are so constructed as to have limited downward pivotal movement and are preferably of generally bifurcated form at their pivoted ends, as clearly shown.

This type of anchor may of course be used as a central anchor or I may employ slotted slats 53 through which the anchors can be positioned with coil springs 54 above the slats and a crosspin 55 through the upper part of the anchor to impart downward pressure on the boards 20.

Various changes and alterations might be made in the general form of the parts described without departing from the invention and hence I do not limit myself to the precise details set forth but consider myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A silo seal comprising a plurality of tapered radially arranged sections including a series of transversely disposed boards, said sections being arranged in contiguous relations for forming a cap for covering the total cross sectional area of the silo, slats radially arranged with respect to the silo and disposed over the juncture of said sections, an anchor rod extending above and below the seal and having means for anchoring in the material in the silo, and means operatively connected with said rod including presser feet disposed upon saidl slats whlereby pressure may be exerted upon the sea Larmes 2. A silo seal comprising a plurality of sections including a series of elements and radially arranged, said sections being arranged in contiguous relation for forming a cap for covering the total cross sectional area of the silo, slats radially arranged with respect to the silo and disposed over the juncture of said sections, an anchor rod extending above and below the seal and having means for anchoring in the material in the silo, and means operatively connected with said rod including presser feet disposed upon said slats whereby pressure may be exerted upon the seal, said presser feet being provided with extended bases for supporting the presser feet in predetermined positions.

3. A circular silo seal comprising a plurality 01" tapered radially arranged sections, each of said sections including a plurality of transversely disposed strips arranged in contiguous relation, said sections being arranged in contiguous relation for forming a cap for substantially covering the total cross-sectional area of the silo, slats having openings and radially arranged with respect to the silo and positioned over the juncture of said sections, and an anchor device passing through the opening in each of said slats and embedded in the material in the silo for exerting pressure upon said slats.

4. A circular silo seal comprising a plurality of tapered radially arranged se-ctions radially arranged with respect to the silo, each of said sections comprising a plurality of transversely disposed boards arranged in contiguous relation, said sections being arranged in contiguous relation for forming a cap for substantially covering the total cross-sectional area of the silo, sealing means disposed adjacent the underside of the cap and adjacent the material in the silo, slats having openings and radially arranged with respect to the silo and positioned over the juncture of said sections, an anchor device passing through the openings in each of said slats and anchored in the material in the silo for exerting pressure upon said slats, and spring means associated with each of the anchor devices for exerting continuous pressure upon the slats.

5. A circular silo seal including a plurality of approximately triangular sections each comprising a series of transversely disposed boards arranged in contiguous relation, said sections being arranged in contiguous relation and forming ka cap for substantially covering the total cross-sectional area of the silo, slats having openings therein and radially arranged with respect to the silo and positioned over the juncture of said sections, and an anchor device passing through the openings in each of said slats and embedded in the material in the silo for exerting pressure upon said slats, each of said anchors comprising in part pivoted vmovement of the anchor.

6. A circular siloseal including a plurality of approximately triangular sections,v each comprising a series of transversely disposed boards arranged in contiguous relation, said sections being arranged in contiguous relation and forming a cap for substantially covering the total cross-sectional area of the silo, sealing means positioned between the cap and the material in the silo, slats positioned over the juncture of said section-s, each of said slats comprising a pair of members arranged in spaced-apart relation, and an anchor device passing between the spaced-apart members of each of said slats and provided with pivoted arms arranged to be embedded in the material in the silo for exerting pressure downwardly upon said slats and said sections.

FRED GNTHER.

Elle' 

